The first U.S. Navy Littoral Combat Ship, Freedom (LCS 1), the inaugural ship in an entirely new class of U.S. Navy surface warships, is seen conducting a speed run during Builders Trials.

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Article Summary

August 13, 2008 The Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) is an entirely new class of warship designed to enable the U.S. Navy to operate in shallow waters for the many close-to-shore challenges it forsees in the coming years. The LCS is very fast, highly manoeuvrable, fully networked and quickly reconfigurable via 24 hour-installable mission modules to enable it to defeat threats such as mines, quiet diesel submarines and fast attack surface craft. There are two variants of the LCS, one a high-speed semi-planing monohull, the other a trimaran, and the first to begin trails is the monohull version from the Lockheed Martin team. Freedom (LCS 1) is currently undergoing “builder trials” on Lake Michigan, testing the ship's propulsion, communications, navigation and mission systems.